Amudim Community Resources Inc.

CRISIS INTERVENTION AND CASE MANAGEMENT.

To ensure that every individual facing a crisis has a place to turn.

Goal One: We are opening a Mental Health Clinic to work in tandem with our helpline to provide live assistance is in addition to phone assistance. We are opening a creative arts and music theraputic center.

Goal Two: We are increasing our staff size to ensure that there is always someone available to respond to a call for help.

Goal Three: We are using AI to predict and react more accurately to demand and upgrading our salesforce software and website, to allow staff to accurately monitor caseloads and provide quicker response.

We are continually focusing on leadership, skills training, and staff improvement. Recently, our CEO completed an in-depth training in nonprofit leadership and administration at Columbia Business School. Currently, the executive staff and supervisors are undertaking a long-term leadership and team-building cohort designed to improve collaboration, communication, and efficiency.

Our overall approach is a community-based one where we work with communities and the leaders and institutions based there to expand awareness and reach while avoiding duplication of services. Amudim is an active member of two coalitions that meet monthly, to discuss best practices and share resources. These coalitions are adept at noticing problems quicker and activating solutions before they become widespread. Amudim provides free resources to communities and other organizations including expert speakers for community-wide events and workshops, school curricula, and Narcan programs including kit distribution and training. Amudim's PSA videos have served to raise awareness and intervention in areas that often go undiscussed: Sexual Abuse Prevention, Suicide Prevention, Substance Abuse Prevention and general mental health awareness. To date, we have produced 6 PSA's, which have been viewed over 1 million times and have won numerous industry awards.

No one could have predicted the extent and affect of the COVID pandemic on all of the areas of our focus: substance abuse, domestic violence, and mental health challenges. All of these were impacted far beyond what any expert had predicted. Substance abuse increased along with relapses as a result of added stressors and lack of access to support and assistance. Victims of domestic violence were often legally forced into close quarters with their abusers. Even those who were making large strides were challenged by an unprecedented public health crisis. When these challenges arise, there is little time to respond before they spiral out of control. Amudim took swift and proactive steps to "do more with less". Our first approach was to figure out how we can get as many people access to the help need. We launched a 24/7 helpline and invested heavily to raise awareness. The phones rang off the hook for 8 months straight. We then rapidly launched virtual versions of the recovery and support groups that are so critical to those in need. In doing so, we established the lifelines that those struggling with recovery needed more than ever. Our final overall approach was to see how we could "staff up" and provide more services with less funding. This approach was two-fold: 1. Tap into our vast network of mental health providers for volunteers to help staff the helpline; and 2. Collaborate with others to minimize duplication and maximize collaboration. This included working with privately owned hotels to provide shelter and working with community organizations, leaders, schools, and foundations to raise awareness and assist as many as possible. Part of Amudim's mission is that we not only provide pillars of support, but we empower others to become pillars of support. This focus on the person in need not the provider of need coupled with our staff's combined decades of calm in the face of crisis, allowed us to be there for everyone in need.